Crossing The Thin Line

The last time I saw my father, it was a
season of lamentation.
He returned from the USA empty-handed
after almost 20 years of hard work
He came to take up a post at a Private
university in Nigeria
He was 68 years old at the time
He was given the post of Lecturer 1
at the school
because he was able to produce his Ph.D
certificate from Heidelberg University
but unable to produce his M.Sc certificate
from the University of Ibadan
He didn’t have a house of his own and even
though he prospered at a time, things turned
sour and he became
the butt of everyone’s joke.
I was at this time a Personal Assistant to
a pastor, I was earning 60k as salary,
I had two children, a wife and a Toyota
Camry.
My daddy came to my house to rethink
his appointment with this school
He felt the owner of the school
was just being coy by insisting the
certificate must be presented before my
daddy can move up the ladder and earn
some more money
My daddy told me all the glorious people
he knew and had one way or the other
helped in the past
Most of them are politicians who cashed
out big time after he traveled abroad in
1993.
None of them had offered to help him
in anyway, in fact, my father went to
their offices to lobby for something,
…anything
Anything at all
Nothing worked out for him
I was in the same boat with him…
Like father, like son
Unfulfilled potentials
was written all over me
We went to the cross over service at
the church I work for
My father was lost in thought, I was
lost in thought too
Suddenly my father turned to me and
said “Junior, one of us must break
through otherwise we will have to
explain to God why we are both so
gifted and yet so average in life
I told my dad about a mortgage scheme
I was doing with AG Mortgage bank,
I was saying it to console him so that
he can see that I was trying to do
better than him.
The evangel estate I told him about
was in Ofada and it was my wife that
paid for the mortgage I was laying
claim to and calling my own
The estate was built in the middle of
nowhere and those who bought homes
there refused to move there for security
reasons
When we got home on January 1, 2018,
my father decided he would return to
America and start all over!
He was 68!
Nobody gave him a fighting chance
but he was alive and for the living there
is always hope.
He had built schools in America when
he was younger and made money but a
series of wrong decisions took away
all his gains!
He said he would start by getting a job
and commit to
building his own house within two years
so that whenever he comes to Nigeria
he wouldn’t squat in odd places
and endure insults or be reminded of
how much of a failure he was
He left for the USA on January 10
On the other hand, I had an altercation
with one of my sisters and
it changed my life
What happened was not important, the
key I got out of it was in Daniel 5:25
My mother called to settle the
disagreement between me and my
sister and she said “This issue is painful
to you because you don’t have the
means to do the good in your heart
and the one with means is now lording
it over you”
Out of nowhere, I shouted “Mene Mene
Tekel Upharsin. Mummy, I am full of the
Holy Spirit and yet I have been so
disadvantaged that someone I should
be schooling on the Christlife is dictating
to me how to live a productive life!”
It was too much for me to bear
I cried bitterly and asked God to please
turn my situation around
God heard me!
Yesterday evening, my father returned
home for the first time since that season
He came home to lay the foundation of
his own polytechnic and commission his
befitting mansion.
Today, he stepped into my house for the
first time.
I mean the house I built between 2019
and 2020
He ate and prayed
He was overwhelmed
Then he turned to me and said “Just four
years ago, we were lamenting together
and cursing our poor lucks but now
everything has changed!
How?
“By the grace and Power of the Holy Spirit”
I replied
He nodded
We had a great fellowship, he met his
grandchildren, both the ones he knew
and the new ones that came in the last
four years
He kept singing and dancing in praise
to God
Then he turned to me and said “Junior, it is
true that there is a thin line between
prosperity and poverty.
I think we just crossed it at the same time.

PS: If you are reading this and your life is
riddled with unfulfilled potentials too,
I beg you not to give up
Prayer still works but it works more effectively
when you are led by the Holy Spirit and
you yield to him in obedience.
By the grace of God, I was conscious of
what changed reality in my favour
It was neither luck nor chance
I have also taught what I know to others
and I have seen their lives transformed
from glory to glory.
Please don’t lose hope
My daddy will be 72 on October 16 and
he is doing the foundation laying of his
polytechnic that day!
He said after God had built him the house
he wanted, he realized his dream was too small
So he dreamt again and this time he has
decided to build a school to the glory of God
I am very happy for him
I am encouraged too
I remind myself that a living dog is
better than a dead lion
and there is nothing like “too late” when
God is involved.
Please be encouraged
Send me a DM
I can pray with you, I can also share a
word of counsel that you might find
very helpful
Send me a DM or a WhatsApp message
on 08072744871
Today may look so bleak but the stormy
clouds must surely clear